


The Girl Who Moved A Mountain

by vl19scriptfic



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other, Screenplay/Script Format, and also, and lots of daisy/team, anyway this was a ridiculous project and i don't know why i did it, but im kinda glad i did, but it does have a pretty exorbitant amount of static quake, doesnt quite conform to the current canon plot, featuring bits of huntingbird and fitzsimmons, hence the tag, i apologize in advance for this, not about any relationship in particular, script format is just so fun?, slight AU because obviously this plot, so i guess by definition that qualifies as AU, there's a lot of big sis bobbi in this too because GUESS WHO MISSES BOBBI MORSE, this is a team fic really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 13:04:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6611638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vl19scriptfic/pseuds/vl19scriptfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A full-length script of a nonexistent episode of Agents of Shield (season 3). Daisy and the team encounter an Inhuman with a terrifying power- the ability to trap people in a comatose state, causing them to witness a nightmarish manifestation of their very worst fear, all with the touch of a finger. When Daisy falls victim to this Inhuman's mysterious powers, the team must race against the clock to conjure up a way to rescue her. Meanwhile, Daisy faces a terrifying ordeal as she's trapped inside her own mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Girl Who Moved A Mountain

**Author's Note:**

> Note!! I used the 'major character death' warning just to be safe, but nobody in this fic actually dies. All the death happens inside Daisy's mind during the subconscious terror state. Not sure if that changes anything but it felt worth pointing out.

[[INT- SHIELD OFFSITE HOLDING FACILITY]] 

Aria Danvers sits on the bare mattress bed inside SHIELD’s deepest offsite holding cell, Fitz’s neuroblocker prototype bound around her head. She sees the door begin to open, an ominous metallic creak breaking the steady silence, and struggles futilely against the electrical gridding binding her wrists. She calms and desists her struggling when she sees that the visitor is HIVE, inhabiting the body of the previously deceased Grant Ward. She tilts her head, almost flirting with him. 

ARIA  
I thought you weren’t coming back for me. 

HIVE runs a hand along the edge of the table outside the cell, as if scrutinizing it for cleanliness. 

HIVE  
I’m not. You are most effective here. 

ARIA  
Hell, what good am I stuck in this hole in the ground? SHIELD probably forgot they put me down here in the first place. Please, just break me out. I can help you. I can help you achieve greatness. 

HIVE pauses, approaching the containment. 

HIVE  
All in good time, my disciple. They have not forgotten you. That, in fact, is why I’m here. SHIELD will return here today, to transfer you to a more secure facility they intend to hold you in. That device on your head right now is simply a prototype. I believe that with SHIELD’s resources they will soon be able to turn off your powers permanently. This may be your only chance to do what I require of you. 

Aria stares without responding, a fanatic waiting to prove herself, to take her place among the ranks. 

HIVE (cont’d)  
SHIELD will bring a unit here in a matter of hours to transport you. Sources tell me their jet is already on the way. When they arrive, this microcharge- 

HIVE pulls a small silver sphere out from his pocket, rolling it between his fingers. 

HIVE (cont’d)  
\- will detonate. It will be nearly soundless. Your shock screen will drop when it goes off, and your restraints will be neutralized as well. And it leaves no evidence of a break-in. A little gift from some of Malick’s associates in the technology business. It’s a motion trigger, so you must remain very still until they get here. If one of them gets close enough, that should do the trick. And should you need it, here- 

HIVE pulls a small, oblong silver object from his other pocket and rolls it into the cell. Aria bends down to pick it up. 

HIVE  
-is a second charge, brighter and louder, in case you require a distraction in order to make your escape. 

HIVE presses a small button on a device around his wrist. A tiny beep sounds. 

HIVE  
Still, now. Both charges are live. Once the screen is down, target their ringleader. The one who shakes the earth. Coulson usually sends her in these types of diplomatic situations. She is, pardon my wordplay, the… epicenter of their team. She may not be the director, but take her out and they all go down. We’re hitting them where it hurts. 

Aria smiles dazzlingly as HIVE moves to place the minute charge at the base of the screen generator. He stands up, surveying the room one more time, and motions to his guards to exit. He doesn’t glance back as he leaves, and Aria stares after him, anticipatory, waiting for the crucial moment she’ll come into play. 

[[cut to title sequence]] 

[[INT- ZEPHYR CONTROL HUB]] 

The team stands around the central monitor. Fitz, off to the side, tinkers with a more sophisticated-looking version of the piece of tech around Aria’s head. Coulson and May stand at the head of the group, finishing the pre-mission brief. 

COULSON  
Alright, people, we’re killing two birds with one stone on this one. Thanks to Jemma and Fitz, we no longer have to hold Miss Danvers offsite. But we’ll only know if Fitz’s tech works once we test it out. I know you all understand how dangerous Aria Danvers is. She’s one of the few inhumans we’ve come across that we have very incomplete knowledge of how her powers work. It puts us at a disadvantage, I admit. But it’s now or never. And from the offsite monitoring over the past month or so, Fitz’s older prototype is working perfectly. Not a single abnormal brain wave since we left her last. As far as we know, that’s a good sign. Fitz? 

Coulson moves aside to make room for Fitz as Fitz approaches the central monitor and places his second prototype on top of it. He fiddles with the cables a bit more, looking mildly frustrated. 

FITZ  
I’ve more or less finished it, functionally speaking, but it’s still a bit fussy. The idea was to remotely connect it to the first one so that we wouldn’t have to knock Aria out to switch the devices, but that bit didn’t quite go to plan. The field of influence doesn’t extend nearly far enough. So that means I’ve got to do it manually. Which also means we’ve got to sedate her before we take the first device off, and then I’ve got to switch out the devices before we put her in the pod. We’d wait until later but as we saw last time, sedatives can be a bit unpredictable when it comes to this one. I don’t reckon I’ll have enough time to wait until she’s already in the pod. 

Coulson nods, stepping forward again. 

COULSON  
Thank you, Fitz, So a couple complications, yes, but it’s the most solid plan we’ve got. Daisy, Bobbi and Fitz- you’re all going down into the cell to get Aria. Daisy has the sedative and Fitz has the neuroblocker. Bobbi, you're backup in case things go sideways. Mack and Hunter, you’re on border patrol. It’s far enough offsite that we shouldn’t have too many worries, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Lincoln and Jemma, you two are prepping extraction. Get the pod ready, make sure the polymer settings are right and that they’ll be enough to keep her from getting to any of us even if the neuroblocker fails. May, you and I are going on a routine security camera check. We have to do it anyway at some point this month, so I figure now is as good a time as any. Like I said, two birds with one stone. We ready for this? 

Nods of affirmation go around the room, although May looks slightly disappointed at being stuck on routine security. 

DAISY  
Sir, I hate to be the bringer of bad juju here but what if the sedative doesn’t work? 

COULSON  
Sedative doesn’t work, scratch the plan. You and Bobbi and Fitz return to the rendezvous point and wait for Mack and Hunter. When May and I are finished with the cameras we’ll meet back up at the Zephyr and figure out another plan from there. Fitz, I know you want this tech to work, but stay safe. If the sedative doesn’t knock her out, don’t drop the screen. Fitz’s current blocker might be working just fine, but it might not. Don’t let her touch any of you while she’s conscious. 

Jemma walks into the main control room, gesturing behind her to the room where the containment pod is prepped for Aria’s arrival. 

JEMMA  
Sir, the container is ready. Or as ready as it’ll ever be. 

COULSON  
Good enough. Alright, team, we’re a go. Let’s move out. 

[[cut]]

[[INT- ZEPHYR CARGO BAY]] 

Daisy straps her gauntlets to her wrists, Bobbi sheaths her batons to her back and Fitz is busy closing his neuroblocker device inside a metallic case. Mack, Hunter, May and Coulson are all in field gear, and Lincoln and Jemma stand by. Daisy approaches Lincoln, who looks more concerned than he’s letting on.

DAISY  
You be safe here, alright? I’ll see you soon. 

LINCOLN  
Yeah. Hey, watch yourself out there. It’s a risky mission. You’re already in enough danger as it is. 

DAISY (sympathetically)  
Occupational hazard. Catch you later, okay? 

Daisy leans up and kisses the end of Lincoln’s nose. He smiles, shutting his eyes and leaning his forehead against hers. They break apart, Daisy squeezing Jemma’s shoulder as she passes. Jemma smiles at her, worried yet confident. 

JEMMA  
Best of luck, Daisy. 

Daisy smiles back, appreciative. 

DAISY  
Yeah, you too. 

Jemma looks past Daisy to wave at Fitz, who returns the gesture. If there are unspoken words between them, they are forgotten right now, Jemma only wishing for Fitz to return safely. Farther down the cargo hold, Bobbi gives Hunter a swift kiss. 

BOBBI  
Hey. Don’t die out there. 

HUNTER  
Wouldn’t dream of it. 

Coulson, May, Bobbi, Hunter, Daisy, Fitz and Mack make their way down the opening cargo door out onto the grass. The fortified entrance to the offsite bunker is a short way away, surrounded by boulders and remnants of old trees. 

[[EXT- OFFSITE HOLDING FACILITY]]

COULSON  
Alright, May and I are going around the back. Hunter and Mack, one full sweep ought to do it, but if you find anything suspicious, radio to May and I and do a second sweep just to be sure. Daisy, Bobbi, Fitz? Good luck. And be safe.

Daisy glances at May, a wordless affirmation. Mack and Hunter head off, Coulson and May as well. Daisy, Fitz and Bobbi make their way towards the brownish metal door. Bobbi frowns at the complicated-looking lock mechanism. 

BOBBI  
Wow, you’re keeping an Inhuman here? How dangerous is this Aria Danvers, exactly? 

Fitz and Daisy are confused for a moment, before they recall that Bobbi and Hunter weren’t present for their first dealing with Aria. 

FITZ (remembering)  
Oh, yeah, that’s right, you and Hunter were on a side mission last time. We don’t have much experience with her, actually. We just know what she can do. Or at least we have some idea. 

DAISY  
Her powers work on some psychic level. She… traps peoples’ consciousness, we think. And it seems to have something to do with physical contact. She has to be awake and touching you to get to you. All we know is that before we caught her, she put 6 people in the hospital. They’re all still there. Nobody can figure out what’s wrong with them. They’re just… unconscious. Nothing wakes them up. When we caught her, we sedated her and Simmons figured out how scan her brain waves. There were a bunch of abnormal spikes that, as near as we can figure, somehow correlate to her powers. The neuroblocker prototype Fitz put on her stops the spikes and keeps her from going all telepathic killer on us. Well, it’s a bit more finessed than that, but- 

Daisy gestures to Fitz, who picks up on the explanation. 

FITZ  
Well, the neuroblocker is actually a chemical agent and the device is just a means of administering it. Jemma managed to engineer a compound that dulled Aria’s abnormal brainwave spikes, but the problem was that since it was made using the same compounds we found in Creel’s blood as a base, the chemicals break down over time. That’s why we’ve got to get her out soon. Even if the first device worked perfectly, the neurochemical should only be functional for about another two weeks. Or, the old version, that is. Jemma and I have worked on it since and we figured out a way to make it last longer. Not much longer, but it’s better than nothing. 

BOBBI  
Got it. No physical contact. At least not while she’s conscious. Easy enough.

Daisy holds a complicated looking scanner key up to the lock, and a metallic clicking noise later, the door swings inward, creaking on its steel hinges. Fitz in the rear, the three of them descend the dark staircase. When they reach the bottom, a set of blue-white lights flicker on above. Aria sits on the cot, in the same position we left her, staring pensively at the newcomers. Fitz steps forward, holding up the second prototype. 

FITZ  
Hello, Aria. We’ve come to take you back home. 

Aria stares, a slow smile spreading across her face, defiant and dangerous as the day they first locked her away. 

[[cut]] 

[[EXT- SECURITY CAMERA BUNKER]] 

May and Coulson stand in front of an open set of small metal doors set into the side of the bunker, filled with screens and monitors and control panels. Coulson scans one set of screens while May watches another. 

COULSON  
Whole last month, nothing. Just the guard agents bringing her food and water. 

He presses a set of keys on the keypad next to his monitor, and the screens all go blank at once. 

COULSON  
Alright, one month wiped. You got anything? 

May, looking slightly bored, glances over at Coulson. 

MAY  
Nope, nothing. Remind me again why we’re bothering with this? It’s the middle of nowhere. I doubt anyone could even find this place, much less break in. 

Coulson shrugs nonchalantly.

COULSON  
I’m inclined to agree with you on that one, but I’m trying to run the offsites with the same responsibility that Fury would have. He kept this place for a reason. I figure I owe it to him to keep it in check, even if it’s out of use most of the time. 

MAY  
You think Fury would disapprove of what we’re using it for? 

Coulson looks troubled at the thought. 

COULSON  
Not exactly. But I think he’d have his reservations. As do I. But when we caught Aria Danvers, this legitimately seemed like our only option. And it still might be. I’ve tried as best I can to do right by Fury, but… 

MAY (finishing his thought for him)  
The way things are going now, with everything that’s going on, you’re not even sure what he’d do in your place? 

COULSON  
Exactly. I don’t know, sometimes I think- 

May frowns suddenly, glancing at something on her screen. 

MAY  
Hey, I think I’ve got something. 

Coulson looks a surprised and a little amused. 

COULSON  
You do? What, you see a rogue jackrabbit or a lockpicking grizzly bear? 

May rolls her eyes at him and gestures at the screen. 

MAY  
No, look at the time stamp on this footage. 8:05 a.m. The guard brings Aria food and water every single day without fail at 8:00 on the dot. He hasn’t been late once. Except for here. 8:05. And no guard. 

Coulson looks tentative, glancing at the screen May’s referring to. He shrugs in consideration.

COULSON  
Could have just been late, I guess. You see anything else? 

May glances back at her screen, squinting her eyes as if trying to make out a small detail. She leans back, unsatisfied. 

MAY  
No, nothing. We should call the guard in, though. Ask him why he missed his shift. 

COULSON  
Alright, I’ll got on that as soon as I- 

May grips Coulson’s elbow, abruptly redirecting his attention. 

MAY  
Coulson, look. Camera A. The one up in the tree. 

A group of 3 tall figures appear on the screen, one leading the other two, the leader wearing an unmistakable long black tailcoat. They watch as HIVE places something on the door of the bunker, waits a second as a small spark lights up near the lock, and then pushes the door in and descends into the dark bunker. May and Coulson share a glance, both recognizing the figure for who he is and comprehending the fact that someone not only managed to break into the bunker but also that for all they know, he could still be down there. 

They stare in shocked disbelief. 

COULSON  
How the hell-

MAY  
He could still be inside. We’ve got to get them out of there. Are there any cameras inside the cell? 

COULSON  
No, only out here. We only ever needed to monitor one entrance. 

COULSON (over his radio)  
Daisy, come in. Daisy? Daisy, do you copy? 

The radio is silent aside from a static buzz. 

COULSON  
Dammit. Interference. Could just be the depth, or they could be in trouble. Let’s go. Forget the cameras. 

May nods in solemn agreement, clamping down on her fear, steeling herself as she always does. 

[[cut]] 

[[INT- SHIELD OFFSITE HOLDING FACILITY]] 

Fitz, Daisy and Bobbi stand around the table at the center of the room while Fitz sets the prototype case down. Daisy flicks a vial of sedative into her icer and tucks the icer into her belt. Aria watches them all, a wild fascination in her eyes, still as a statue. 

ARIA  
You. You’re the one they call Earthshaker, aren’t you? 

Daisy, recognizing Aria’s reference to her, steps a little closer. 

DAISY  
I guess, yeah. That’s me. Why? 

Aria smiles brightly, dangerously. She tilts her head, a minute movement, barely visible. 

ARIA  
He told me to wait for you. 

Daisy furrows her brow. 

DAISY  
‘He’? Hang on, who’s ‘he’? Who told you to wait for me? 

ARIA  
Come a little closer and I’ll tell you. 

Bobbi steps forward protectively, holding out an arm as if gesturing for Daisy to stay back. 

BOBBI  
Daisy, I wouldn’t. The icer’ll work from here, won’t it? 

DAISY (without taking here eyes off of Aria)  
It’s alright, the electric shield won’t let her touch me. 

Bobbi moves her hand instinctively to her batons, prepping for a potential complication. Fitz glances between them worriedly. 

DAISY  
Aria, who? Who told you to wait for me? 

ARIA  
The one in black. The one we’ve all waited for. Our leader. 

Daisy’s eyes widen in realization. Fitz stares in shock, and Bobbi’s grip on her batons tightens visibly.

DAISY (in disbelief)  
Ward? Or- HIVE? 

ARIA (sweetly)  
Call him what you will, Earthshaker. He’ll lead us out of the dark no matter his name. 

DAISY  
I don’t understand, he was here? How is that possible? And why did he tell you to wait for me? 

Aria stares, silent, defiant. Frustrated, Daisy steps one step closer. 

DAISY  
Aria, why did HIVE tell you to- 

A small beep. A tiny flash of light down near the floor as Daisy’s motion triggers the sensor. A brilliant smile and a tinkling laugh from Aria as a bright flash of light illuminates the shock screen, blindingly white for a split second. The cuffs on Aria’s wrists release, and she reaches up and rips Fitz’s neuroblocker prototype from her head. Blood runs down her forehead where the prongs stuck into her skin. 

BOBBI (simultaneously)........... Fitz (simultaneously)  
Daisy!! ............................................ Get back!!

 

Aria drops the neuroblocker to the ground, crushing it underfoot. She laughs, as if intoxicated with the freedom, and even as Daisy jumps back, Aria moves, faster than should be humanly possible, and brushes her fingers against Daisy’s skin. 

Daisy’s eyes widen, her muscles stiffen and she collapses. 

FITZ  
No!! 

Fitz rushes forward, just barely catching Daisy before she hits the ground. Bobbi instinctively flings her batons towards Aria, who dodges them at, again, what should be an impossible speed. The batons fly back to Bobbi’s hands as Aria grins again, maniacally, and pulls the second charge from her pocket. She presses the button, breathes a sigh of euphoric relief, and releases her finger. 

The room explodes into a visual cacophony of white and blue light, the lightbulbs ahead shatter into showers of sparks, and one deep whooshing sound later, Aria is gone. 

The room, aside from a faraway light from the top of the bunker stairs, is pitch dark. 

[[EXT- SHIELD OFFSITE HOLDING FACILITY]] 

Coulson and May rush around the far end of the bunker, rounding the corner and seeing the open bunker door as a blinding flash of light bursts out below, followed by a dark shape rushing past them, too fast for them to identify. Coulson catches May’s arm and pulls her back as the shape rushes past. 

MAY  
What the hell was that? 

[[INT- SHIELD OFFSITE HOLDING FACILITY]]

Bobbi drops both of her batons and rushes to where Fitz holds Daisy on the concrete floor. She presses two fingers to Daisy’s neck, checking her pulse, bordering on panic. 

BOBBI  
Daisy? Daisy, hey, wake up! Fitz, how do we- 

Fitz is pale and unsteady, shaking his head, not sure what to do next. 

FITZ (in a whisper)  
I don’t know.

[[EXT- SHIELD OFFSITE HOLDING FACILITY]]

Mack and Hunter both come running from the woods opposite the bunker. Hunter, panting, rests his hands on his knees. They both look harrowed. 

COULSON  
Mack, Hunter, what’s wrong? 

Hunter, too busy catching his breath to answer, gestures futilely behind him. 

MACK  
There’s a body in the woods. Drained, all skeletal- just the way HIVE leaves ‘em. Don’t know how or why, but he was here. The guy in the woods had a SHIELD badge. 

Coulson and May glanced at one another. 

COULSON AND MAY (simultaneously)  
The guard. 

COULSON  
Why didn’t you radio when you found him? 

Mack shakes his head, holding out his radio. 

MACK  
No signal. We tried. Both of us. 

Coulson shakes his head in frustration. 

COULSON  
Dammit, he must have stuck a signal jammer somewhere. 

HUNTER (finally regaining his voice)  
May, what the bloody hell is going on? 

MAY  
No idea. 

Coulson breaks away from the group and hurries back to the bunker door, peering anxiously down into the darkness. 

COULSON (shouting)  
Daisy? Bobbi? Fitz? What happened down there? Are you all right? Did the sedative work? 

Fitz appears at the top of the stairs, panting, still holding the case with the second prototype. He’s shaking his head, pointing down the stairs. May, Mack and Hunter rush over when they see him. 

COULSON  
Fitz, what the hell just happened? Did you- 

Coulson breaks off as his eyes focus on what’s behind Fitz. 

A few steps behind where Fitz stands, Bobbi climbs the stairs, Daisy limp in her arms. Fitz just keeps shaking his head. 

FITZ (rapidly, rambling)  
I don’t know- I don’t know what- there was some sort of light and then Aria was so fast and- she escaped, sir, I don’t know how she did it, but before she ran she- it was impossible, really, and there was light everywhere, I couldn’t see- 

COULSON  
Fitz, calm down, what happened? Did Aria touch her? 

Fitz just nods, miserable. 

COULSON (disbelieving)  
No. 

Mack and Hunter step back, wide-eyed. 

MAY (in a whisper)  
Daisy. 

COULSON  
Forget HIVE, forget Aria. Get Daisy to the Zephyr. We’re gonna deal with this, just like we always do. Come on. 

HUNTER  
I don’t understand, is she- 

Bobbi shakes her head, stepping out of the bunker doorway, her grip on Daisy solid but gentle. 

BOBBI  
She’s alive, Hunter, but it’s bad. Come on, we’ve got to go. 

Bobbi runs as fast as she can while holding Daisy up, Coulson and Mack running ahead, May and Fitz in the rear. They reach the cargo ramp of the Zephyr. Jemma and Lincoln jog down to the end of the ramp to greet them. 

They both stop dead in their tracks when they see Daisy. Lincoln stumbles back. 

JEMMA (whispering)  
Oh my god. 

Coulson and May don’t waste a second, both panicked but neither of them losing focus. This is an impossible situation, terrifying everyone, beyond the reaches of their full understanding, but they hold their ground. There’s no way they’re letting Daisy go. 

COULSON  
Lincoln, come with us. We have to get her to medical. We’re moving out. The mission is no longer Aria. She escaped and right now we have more important things to worry about than finding her. Hunter, close the ramp. Mack, get Washington Hospital on the phone, get an update on Aria’s other 6 victims. We need to get the hell out of here in case HIVE decides to show up again. We're not placing blame, we're not pointing fingers. This was no one's fault but mine. I should have considered that since Ward used to know about this place, HIVE might know where it is too. I don't know how the hell he got in or what he did afterwards, but we'll deal with that later. Daisy is priority number one. Wheels up in 5. 

[[cut]] 

[[INT- MAIN SHIELD BASE LAB AND MED BAY]] 

Bobbi gently lies Daisy down on the nearest hospital bed. Daisy lies unfailingly still, breathing but otherwise immobile, her eyes shut. Bobbi brushes a bit of Daisy’s hair out of her face, sinking onto a stool next to the bed. Lincoln approaches, cautiously, wrapping his hand around Daisy’s. 

LINCOLN  
Daisy? 

He squeezes her hand, looking desperately up at Coulson and May. 

BOBBI  
Her heart’s beating. Her pulse is steady. Anyone would just think she was unconscious. If we can’t figure out something to do, what? She’s just gonna stay like this? 

LINCOLN  
Do we have any idea what’s going on with her? How to fix what Aria does to people? 

COULSON  
We’re gonna find out. 

MAY  
Damn right we are. 

Jemma grips Fitz’s arm in the background, the two of them as afraid as the first time, long ago, when they both feared Daisy wouldn’t make it. Shakily, Jemma steps forward. 

JEMMA  
Sir, I don’t know if this is going to help, but I may have an idea. 

COULSON  
Anything. We’re grasping here. We’ve got to start somewhere. 

JEMMA  
Fitz and I- when we were originally engineering the neuroblocker chemical, the first time around, there was a sort of side-product, a compound that formed as a separate result of the reactions we were starting. We weren’t sure what it did, so we were testing it on mice, and it seems- well, we aren’t really sure, but it seems like it might have the opposite effect of the neuroblocker. Rather, a neurostimulant of sorts. We didn’t think anything of it, considering the situation, but- well, we trained the mice to have an acute anxiety response whenever they heard a specific bell. And whatever feedback loops we trained into them during the conditioning, the neurostimulant broke them. The mice no longer had an anxiety response. It was remarkable, really, considering that type of conditioned response usually takes far longer to become extinct, but- 

She pauses, hesitant to continue. 

COULSON  
This is the bad news, isn’t it? 

JEMMA  
Unfortunately, sir, yes it is. Seven of the ten mice we tested the neurostimulant on died three days later. The chemical stopped the signals in their brain creating their anxiety response, but it didn’t stop there. The compound is rather unstable, you see. It deteriorates rapidly, and depending on how it breaks down, it has the potential to cause other damage. We still haven’t been able to keep the compound from breaking down.

LINCOLN  
We can’t give it to her like that. 7/10? It’s too risky. 

COULSON  
He’s right. And besides, we don’t even know how the neurostimulant would effect someone Aria touched. It might be completely different. 

BOBBI  
Actually, sir, what Jemma said about feedback loops makes a lot of sense. Could that be what Aria does to people? Daisy said something about ‘trapping their consciousness’, but what if that’s exactly what it is? What if her brain is just trapped in a never-ending cycle of synaptic signals keeping her in an unconscious state? 

LINCOLN  
Like an inhuman-induced coma. 

JEMMA  
I think Bobbi may be right. I’ve had similar thoughts, but no concrete way of checking. 

MAY  
Do you think you could figure out a way to modify the neurostimulant so that it doesn’t break down? 

JEMMA  
Possibly, yes. In time. Fitz? 

FITZ  
Absolutely, yeah, we’ll start straight away. 

LINCOLN  
I could help too, right? I mean, Inhuman biology is kind of my thing. 

JEMMA  
Of course, Lincoln, we’ll need you. 

COULSON  
Okay, we have a starting point. That’s good. Jemma, do you-

He breaks off as Mack sticks his head through the lab doorway. He looks solemn, nervous. 

MACK  
Whatever you’re doing, you’re gonna want to do it fast. I just got off the phone with Washington Hospital. The 6 people who Aria touched last time all got transferred to the psychiatric ward. Doctors still can’t tell what’s wrong with ‘em, but two of ‘em are already dead. 

Jemma blanches, shutting her eyes. Fitz looks pale again, and Bobbi turns her anxious gaze back down to Daisy’s deathly still form. Mack leans against the doorframe, in a brief moment of defeat. Hunter stares at the floor. May raises her chin, as if defiant of the odds. Lincoln looks stricken and terrified. Coulson just shakes his head. 

COULSON  
No. We’re not gonna go there yet. Let’s tackle this the way we’d tackle any other problem. Jemma, Fitz, Lincoln, do what you’ve got to do. Mack, Hunter, finish briefing with May and I. Bobbi- 

BOBBI  
I’ll stay with her, sir. 

Coulson nods. Lincoln bends down and gently kisses Daisy’s forehead. 

LINCOLN  
I’ll come back, okay? 

Lincoln, Jemma and Fitz walk out into the lab next to the infirmary. Coulson, May and Mack move towards the hallway leading to Coulson’s office. Coulson turns back for a second, glancing at Bobbi. 

COULSON  
Call us in if anything changes, alright? 

BOBBI  
Of course, sir. 

Without another word, Coulson follows Mack and May out of the infirmary. Hunter lingers behind, moving to stand next to Bobbi. 

HUNTER  
You gonna be alright, love? 

Bobbi nods, shutting her eyes and leaning against Hunter’s side. 

BOBBI  
Yeah. I’ll be fine. Go finish the briefing. I’ll be here. 

HUNTER  
She’s gonna come back to us, Bob. She’s gonna come back. 

Bobbi brushes a gentle thumb over Daisy’s cheek. She glances up at Hunter, sad and anxious yet loving and appreciative. 

BOBBI  
Come back after you finish the brief, yeah? 

Hunter nods at her and squeezes her shoulder, then turns away and exits the infirmary. Behind the glass door of the lab, Fitz and Lincoln and Jemma are bent over Jemma’s previous research reports. Bobbi looks down at Daisy again, still looking peacefully asleep. 

BOBBI (in almost a whisper, as if trying not to wake her)  
You hear that, Daisy? Jemma and Fitz and Lincoln are gonna figure this out. We’re all gonna do whatever we can, team up however we can. We’re gonna bring you back to us. Don’t you worry. 

[[cut]]

[[INT- COULSON’S OFFICE]]

Mack, May and Coulson all stand in front of Coulson’s desk as Hunter makes his way into the room. The mutual tension is evident. They’re all anxious to be able to do something productive. 

COULSON  
Mack, what did the doctor you spoke to say? About the 6 hospitalized patients? Do you know why they were moved to the psych ward in the first place? 

MACK  
The doctors aren’t sure. They all freaked out, one by one. They stayed unconscious, apparently, but the doctor on the phone said they all started talking in their sleep or whatever the hell it is, saying stuff about different types of nonsense. One of them was mumbling some stuff about a tower and one of them was talking about water and I think the doctor mentioned something about a rattlesnake. I asked them to send the medical reports to you as soon as they could. 

Coulson picks up his tablet and scans his fingerprint to gain access. 

COULSON  
Thanks, Mack, they just came through a few minutes ago. I’ll have Simmons take a look at them later. For now- 

He pauses, propping the tablet up on the edge of his desk. The others gather around to get a better look. 

COULSON  
Harry Gregson, 41, Marcie Lewis, 56, Naveen Bellish, 27, Sara Wheeler, 22. Those four are still alive. None of them are inhumans, judging by their DNA results, or at least they’re pre-terrigenesis. Three of them had previously been administered psychiatric treatment before the Danvers incident. 

MAY  
What for? 

COULSON  
All different things, apparently. 

He scrolls, stops, and is about to continue scrolling when- 

HUNTER  
Coulson, wait. What’s that bit? On Naveen’s ‘psychiatric history’ section? It says he was administered psychological treatment for an irrational fear of heights. 

MACK  
Hang on, fear of heights? The woman on the phone said- she said that one of the patients was mumbling something in his sleep. Something about a tower. Do you think it means something? If it was the same guy, maybe he was freaking out about a tower because he was having some sort of nightmare about being on top of one. You know, because of the fear of heights. It would make sense. 

MAY  
Mack could be onto something. And-

She glares at Hunter, who drops his look of mild indignation. 

MAY (cont’d)  
-Hunter too, of course. 

MACK (considering)  
Why does the name ‘Sara Wheeler’ sound so familiar to me? Anyone? 

Coulson and May both shake their heads, not recognizing the name. 

HUNTER  
May, gimme your phone for a sec. 

May looks put-out but hands it to him. Hunter twiddles with it for a moment.

HUNTER  
Aha! Sara Wheeler. Famous competition surfer. 

MACK  
See, I knew it! My brother and I used to watch surfing competitions on tv. 

HUNTER  
Ooh, ooh, take a look at this. Sara Wheeler was a competition surfer. She hasn’t competed in 6 years. She quit after an accident during a practice run when she very nearly drowned. It says here they were only just able to resuscitate her. She almost died. 

A look of realization dawns on May’s face as she takes the phone back from Hunter and looks at the article he pulled up. 

MAY  
Water. Just like- 

MACK (nodding, catching on)  
Another one of the patients was reported mumbling nonsense about water. It’s got to be her. Almost drowning, that’s not something you just get over. Maybe she- 

MAY  
Anxiety response. Just like Jemma said. 

COULSON  
And Mack, you said two of the patients died of heart failure. All the symptoms here, hyperventilation, cardiac arrest, they’re all- 

MACK  
Fear. 

HUNTER  
So, just to be clear, what we’re actually getting at here is that- this Inhuman, Aria, can actually stick you inside some sort of mental IT-the-clown funhouse? Literally trap you inside your worst fear? 

COULSON  
Like a constant nightmare. 

They all glance at one another, the realization of what they’ve just pieced together dawning on them.

MAY  
That must be why the two of them died. Their heart just couldn’t take it anymore. But they were fine at first, right? None of them got moved to the psychiatric ward until at least 3 weeks after Aria’s first attack. 

COULSON  
Right, which means we have time. Not a lot, but we have time. We should tell Simmons about this. She said the neurostimulant broke the feedback loops in the mices’ brains and stopped their fear response to the bell ringing. If this works, if they figure out how to make the serum safer, this could- 

MAY  
This could be the way to bring Daisy back. And not just Daisy, but all of them. We might finally have a way to combat Aria’s powers. 

[[cut]] 

[[INT- SHIELD INFIRMARY]] 

Bobbi is asleep, her head folded on her arms on the side of Daisy’s bed. Hunter walks in, about to speak, and slows down when he sees Bobbi sleeping. May walks in beside Hunter. 

MAY  
Should we wake Bobbi up? This seems like something she’d want to know. 

Hunter shakes his head. 

HUNTER  
Don’t think so. We’ll have plenty of time in the morning, and it’s not like there’d be any point in telling her now anyway. I think we’d better let her rest. I reckon she’s beating herself up about Daisy taking the hit today, even if she couldn’t have done anything to stop it. 

May, understanding, nods in agreement. She glances solemnly at Daisy’s still form, lingers for only a second and then turns and walks away. A moment later, Hunter follows. 

[[cut]] 

[[INT- DAISY’S MIND]] 

The room is endless, the walls a deep gray, stretching on and on in all directions. At moments the ceiling looks low, and in other moments it seems miles away. Daisy opens her eyes, coming to her senses, lying on the grey floor. She winces, gripping her forearm, pushing herself up into a sitting position. She glances around the endless room. 

There’s no one. 

DAISY  
Where the hell am I? 

She stands up, slowly, still looking around. 

DAISY  
Anyone? 

Her voice echoes this time. She looks up. The ceiling is gaping, a wide-open mouth of a chasm, stretching away into the ether above. 

Daisy’s hand moves to her hip, not finding her radio there, grasping at air. 

DAISY  
Where- 

She pauses- freezes- an impossible thought dawning on her. She raises her hands, palms facing away from her, and sends a shockwave at the floor.

Or tries to.

Nothing happens.

DAISY (whispers)  
No. No, no no no-. 

A deep, sounding boom. 

Daisy whirls around. 

Bobbi stands behind her, where a second before there had been nothing. 

Relief floods Daisy’s expression. 

DAISY  
Bobbi! Bobbi, thank God, I thought- where are we? 

Bobbi is silent, still. Daisy glances at her, confused, concerned. 

DAISY  
Bobbi? Hey, can you- 

Bobbi looks up as blood, the brightest thing in the room, spills over her lower lip. Silently, she presses a hand to her stomach, and when she pulls it away her palm is coated in blood. The blood spreads, the stain on her gear widening. She moves as if half asleep, barely registering the injury. Daisy jumps back, shocked. 

DAISY (panicked)  
Bobbi, what- 

Bobbi collapses to the ground, blood pooling around her. Daisy drops to her knees next to her, pressing her fingers to Bobbi’s neck, checking her pulse. 

She doesn’t find one. 

Tears flood Daisy’s eyes and she shakes her head, not believing it. Not understanding it. 

DAISY  
No! No, NO! Bobbi! What the-

She rolls Bobbi onto her back, putting her hands to her chest, trying futilely to start her heart again. She’s crying now, unable to stop. She knows it’s too late, she knows Bobbi’s gone, but she keeps trying, keeps going-

DAISY  
Bobbi, come back, please, you can’t be-

She presses her chest, once more, twice more, three times- and breaks down, collapsing into herself, hugging her arms tightly around herself, sobbing, shaking her head. Her hands are covered in blood, and she tries to wipe them off but the blood won’t come off, and- 

Another sounding boom. 

Bobbi is gone. The blood is gone. 

Daisy stands up, stumbles back, too shocked to cry anymore. She glances around, now entirely terrified, and the room seems even bigger than before. 

DAISY (winded, panting, as if just having run a long, long way)  
Oh my god. What the hell is happening?

[[cut]] 

[[INT- SHIELD INFIRMARY]]

Daisy’s eyes fly open. 

She stares at the ceiling, unseeing, her eyes flicking back and forth. 

DAISY  
Where am I? Someone, tell me- where am I? I have to get out of here, please- 

May stands by Daisy’s bedside, gripping her hand, looking helplessly up at Coulson and Bobbi as they enter the room. Fitz stands opposite May, looking miserable and exhausted. 

FITZ  
It’s been two days. She keeps opening her eyes but she still doesn’t know we’re here. She keeps saying she doesn’t know where she is, but- 

Daisy squeezes her eyes shut, bunching her hands in the blankets, tears leaking down her cheeks. She lets out a half-sob, shaking her head back and forth. May, startled, stands up and presses her hand to Daisy’s forehead, as if checking for fever.

MAY  
Daisy, hey, it’s okay. Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real. It’s not real. You’re just- you’re just having a nightmare. It’s just a dream, Daisy. It’s okay. 

If anyone is surprised to hear May speaking so gently, they don’t show it. Daisy’s distress continues, unbroken by May’s reassurance. 

BOBBI  
What can we do? 

May shakes her head, bowing her chin, defeated. 

MAY  
I don’t think there’s anything we can do. Not until Jemma finishes the serum. I think all we can do is- 

COULSON  
-wait. Yeah. 

Daisy turns her head again, staring at something that isn’t there. She lets out a weak cry, shaking her head in a weak, listless motion. 

DAISY  
She’s dead- she died, I saw it, I couldn’t- I couldn’t save her.

BOBBI (startled)  
‘Died’? Who- did she just say- 

MAY  
I don’t know. 

COULSON  
We’ve got no way of reaching her. 

FITZ  
We’re almost there with the serum. Almost there. We’ve gotten the deterioration down 90%. We’ve just got to- oh, Daisy, just hang in there, okay? Just hang on. 

He rests his hand on Daisy’s trembling shoulder, biting back tears of his own, shutting his eyes and steeling himself. Without another word, he exits into the lab. 

[[cut]]

[[INT- DAISY’S MIND]] 

Daisy’s hair is wild, tangled, and her face is stained with tears. She’s shutting her eyes, pressing her hands to her temples, shaking her head. When she speaks, it comes out as half-sob, half-shout. 

DAISY  
Fitz! Jemma! 

A shifting, screeching noises, and suddenly the floor a few feet away from Daisy turns liquid, the same endless black of the monolith portal. It shifts into solid portal form, and Daisy rushes forward as she sees Jemma standing next to it. 

DAISY  
Jemma, get away from-

She reaches the portal and Jemma, but now the distance between them has doubled, and Jemma is far beyond Daisy’s reach as the portal collapses into liquid, pulling Jemma in. 

DAISY (screaming)  
NO! 

Daisy raises her arm in a desperate attempt to blast the portal away with a shockwave. Nothing happens. 

A second shifting, grinding noise. Daisy whirls around. 

Fitz stands there, a second portal behind him, and every step Daisy runs toward him is another six steps distance between them. The walls shift, the floor moves, and he’s yards away. 

Yards away as the portal liquefies and pulls him in. 

DAISY (sobbing)  
Fitz!! 

He’s gone. 

Daisy collapses, burying her face in her arms, pressing her forehead into her wrists as if she could forcibly push the image of death out of her head. 

[[cut]] 

[[INT- SHIELD LABORATORY]]

Jemma sits at the lab bench, vials and pipettes and flasks scattered haphazardly around her. The messiness is uncharacteristic, a testament to how desperately and forcefully they’re all attempting to find an answer. Her eyes are dark with exhaustion. She hasn’t slept in over 24 hours. Fitz and Lincoln stand behind her, Fitz with a second vial, Lincoln wringing his hands together. 

The door opens and May walks in, looking equally exhausted. The three scientists look to her, a twinge of hope in their glances. 

JEMMA  
How is she? 

MAY  
The same. We think the sedative you gave her is helping, but she’s still panicking, still seeing- whatever it is that she’s seeing. We’ve gotten her heart rate down, but not by much. Any progress here? 

JEMMA  
A bit. We’ve managed to reduce the serum’s deterioration to 98%. The last two percent is, unfortunately, very very stubborn.

FITZ  
How much time do you think she has? Before, you know, she ends up like- 

Fitz breaks off, shutting his eyes, shaking away the thought. 

FITZ (cont’d)  
Sorry, it’s just that- well, she hit the anxiety response a lot faster than the other patients, right? I read the files, over and over. They were all relatively fine- comatose, okay, but fine- until a few weeks after Aria touched them. So why did Daisy- 

LINCOLN  
-respond so quickly? 

FITZ  
Exactly. It doesn’t make sense. 

LINCOLN  
Actually, I think I might have an idea. Why Aria affected Daisy differently, that is. I think she’s another weaponized inhuman. Like- 

May bites her lip, averting her gaze. 

MAY  
-like Lash. 

Lincoln, sympathetic, nods in confirmation. 

LINCOLN  
Lash and Aria both have something in common. Their powers are only destructive, not constructive, designed specifically to hurt. They do worse to other Inhumans than they do to humans. And since Aria’s powers are designed to affect other Inhumans, they take longer to work on humans. Like trying to use a pair of righty scissors with your left hand. Sure, it works, but it takes longer and generally doesn’t turn out exactly like it should. Which means, whatever effect Aria’s powers had on those 6 humans she touched, what happens to Daisy now, it could be- 

MAY  
Even worse. 

Jemma shakes her head adamantly, steeling herself. 

JEMMA  
No, we’re not letting it get that far. Fitz, Lincoln, come on. I need you both if we’re going to finish this serum in time. Fitz, hand me a new set of pipette tips, thanks. Lincoln, if you would, fetch another vial of the neuroblocker. We’re beating this. 

FITZ (simuntaneously)...... LINCOLN (simultaneously)  
Absolutely............................................On it.

 

May steps back, recognizing their need to concentrate, moving to exit the lab. 

[[INT- SHIELD INFIRMARY]] 

Bobbi, Hunter and Mack are all gathered around Daisy’s bed. Daisy’s eyes are open, unseeing yet open, and the EKG monitor beside her bed beeps furiously. Bobbi looks helplessly to Hunter and Mack. Both of them look as helpless as she feels. 

MACK  
You tried talking to her again? 

Bobbi shakes her head, frustrated and tired. 

BOBBI  
If she can even hear us at all, we’ve got no way of knowing. 

HUNTER  
She’s really just stuck in there? God, that must be- 

He doesn’t finish the sentence, letting the ending evaporate into the tension, but the others understand nonetheless. 

MACK  
Yeah.

HUNTER  
What d’you reckon she’s seeing in there? She said something about someone dying, didn’t she? 

BOBBI  
Whatever it is, she’s terrified. Her sympathetic nervous system is in rapidfire, constantly. If this goes on much longer, her heart’s gonna give out. 

Hunter rests a hand on Bobbi’s back, as reassuring as he can manage to be, but the tension doesn’t ease. Things are just too uncertain. 

Suddenly, Daisy sits bolt upright, looking wildly around the room, staring at something the rest of them can’t see. The EKG beeps even faster. Daisy moves to try and get out of bed, as if sleepwalking, a haphazard tangle of blankets and limbs. She’s breathing fast, hard, witnessing a private screening of her own worst nightmare. 

The floor begins to shake.

[[INT- SHIELD LABORATORY]] 

Everything is shaking, glasses rattling, papers falling, shelves shifting. Jemma looks up, jolted out of her concentration. She meets Lincoln and Fitz’s stares. They’re trying not to panic, as best they can, but they understand the severity of what’s happening. 

FITZ  
Oh, no. 

[[INT- SHIELD INFIRMARY]]

DAISY (gasping, sobbing, purely terrified)  
Stop, stop it, stop, come back, please- 

Bobbi and Mack rush forward, grabbing Daisy’s arms, trying to hold her steady, keep her from hurting herself. The lights on the ceiling flicker, and somewhere in the next room, a glass shatters. 

BOBBI (shouting)  
Hunter, go get Coulson and May. And tell Jemma we need the neurostimulant now. We’re out of time. 

Hunter runs off in the direction of Coulson’s office. Bobbi and Mack hold Daisy’s shoulders in place as she cries out, powerless to do any more. 

[[INT- SHIELD LABORATORY]] 

Jemma works as quickly as she can, panicked yet not missing a beat. 

JEMMA  
No, no, no- not yet- I’ve almost gotten it-

Lincoln steps back from the lab desk, pressing his hand to his temple, terrified. 

FITZ  
We’ve got to give her the injection now. There’s no choice. Jemma, what’s the percentage of deterioration? 

JEMMA  
Just one percent to go. If I just had a bit more time, I could- 

May runs in, Coulson behind her. 

MAY  
We don’t have any more time. Jemma, what’s the risk? 

Jemma looks up at May, still measuring and stirring the serum, not stopping as she answers May’s question. 

JEMMA  
The risk of further harming Daisy is small, microscopic even, but it might not work. And if it doesn’t work, we’ll have used up the last of the neuroblocker making the stimulant. If Daisy’s this bad already, we won’t have time to make any more. Whatever’s going on in her head right now, it’s what she’s most afraid of. This is our only shot. 

May, Coulson, Fitz and Lincoln look gravely at one another. Silently, they agree. 

MAY  
Do it. 

[[cut]]

[[INT- DAISY’S MIND]] 

Daisy stands the center of the grey room, tears staining her cheeks, pressing her hand to her eyes, but try as she might, she can’t bar herself from seeing. 

DAISY (whispers)  
This isn’t real. It isn’t real. It’s not real. 

The members of her team lie scattered around her, some close and some far away. 

All dead. 

Bobbi, Hunter, Mack, dead. 

Fitz and Jemma, dead. 

May and Coulson, dead. 

Lincoln. Dead. 

Daisy can’t move. She’s rooted to the spot she stands on, her feet anchored to the floor, a pawn at the mercy of her own mind. 

All she can do is turn, turn around, and everywhere she turns, someone else she loves is dead. 

There’s blood on her palms, blood on her shirt, her boots. 

She’s exhausted. 

It’s her fault. 

She couldn’t save them. 

Daisy drops to her knees in utter, crushed defeat. 

A sinister echoing boom, again. 

Everyone but Daisy disappears. 

A great crash sounds, and suddenly the grey floor of the room begins to shake. 

Daisy looks down at her own hands, panicking, realizing she’s not the one causing the earthquake. It dawns on her that she’s really, truly powerless. 

The ceiling, the walls, the floor, they all threaten to swallow her whole. 

And she just might let them. 

The floor splits open, a tangle of fault lines spiderwebbing across the surface, chasms opening up into blackness below. The walls shake apart, cracking, revealing more blackness beyond. 

And suddenly she hears voices, the voices of all the people she loves, desperate cries floating up from the trenches in the floor as the room continues to tremble. 

Lincoln, Fitz, Jemma, Mack, Bobbi, Coulson, May, Hunter. Their voices all mix together, a cacophony of terror and helplessness, begging Daisy to find them. To stop the quakes. 

She tries. 

She can’t. 

She presses her hands to her mouth, barely stifling her agonized sobs. 

[[cut]]

[[INT- SHIELD INFIRMARY]] 

Jemma rushes into the infirmary, syringe in hand, as the others clear a path for her to reach Daisy. Jemma reaches for Daisy’s arm, looking to Bobbi and Mack, both still holding Daisy’s shoulders down. The room still shakes, and the others brace themselves up against walls and doorframes as the tremors grow more and more intense. 

JEMMA  
Keep her steady. 

Swiftly, expertly, Jemma inserts the syringe into Daisy’s upper arm. Everyone else is silent, holding their breaths, waiting. 

An endless moment passes. 

The shaking stops.

The EKG slows. 

They all remain still, not daring to speak. Jemma looks up at the others, glancing behind her, checking that Fitz is okay. She turns back to Daisy, cautiously. 

HUNTER  
Did it work? 

Bobbi rests her hand on Daisy’s cheek, tentative. 

BOBBI  
Daisy? Daisy, hey, can you hear me? 

[[cut]]

[[INT- DAISY’S MIND]] 

She’s back in the grey room, and there’s no one. 

There’s no blood, no shaking, and no one there but her. 

Daisy stands, cautious, looking around. 

Then, seemingly from everywhere, unintelligible voices. Barely audible. 

They grow louder, clearer, more intense. 

Relief floods Daisy’s expression as she recognizes one in particular. 

LINCOLN (voice only)  
Daisy, wake up. Hey, please. Can you hear me? 

DAISY  
Lincoln! Lincoln, where am I? Where are you? 

MAY (voice only)  
Daisy, don’t worry, you’re okay. 

DAISY (disbelieving)  
May! May, I can’t see you, I don’t- what’s going on? 

[[INT- SHIELD INFIRMARY]] 

Daisy lies down, eyes still open, still unseeing. The panic is gone but she remains dazed. 

Jemma shakes her head, frustrated. 

JEMMA  
She’s still stuck. The serum broke the anxiety response but she’s- I don’t know, I don’t know why, but her mind is still trapped. 

Coulson moves forward, cautiously, speaking in nearly a whisper. 

COULSON  
Daisy, can you hear us? If you can hear us at all, we’re here. We’re all here. 

Daisy stirs. 

DAISY (in a hoarse whisper)  
Yes. Yes, I can hear you. 

The others look baffled, afraid to celebrate, confused. Nobody quite understands what’s going on. 

FITZ  
How do we-

JEMMA  
I don’t know. I suspect we’re still only reaching her subconscious. We’ve got to break her out of it somehow. 

Lincoln sits gently on the side of Daisy’s bed, taking her hand in his. 

LINCOLN  
Hey, Daisy, it’s me. It’s Lincoln. 

Daisy smiles at his voice, turning her head towards the sound. 

DAISY  
Lincoln. Lincoln, I don’t know- I don’t know where I am. 

LINCOLN (calmly, more so than he actually feels)  
Okay, Daisy, can you tell me what you see? Wherever you are, what do you see? 

Daisy’s eyes flick back and forth as if she’s looking around, seeing a place other than the tiny infirmary room, taking in sights only she can see. 

DAISY  
It’s- everything, all the walls, the floor, it’s grey. Dark grey. It’s a room, a big room. 

Lincoln nods, although she can’t see him do it, gripping her hand tighter. The others stand close by, listening intently, Jemma still grasping the empty syringe like a lifeline. 

LINCOLN  
Okay. A grey room. Are you alone there? 

DAISY (nodding)  
I am now. 

Lincoln sits back, confused. 

LINCOLN  
What do you mean, you are now? Daisy, who else was there? 

DAISY  
You. You were there. And May, Coulson, Fitz, Jemma, Bobbi, Hunter, Mack. Everyone. 

LINCOLN  
What happened to us, Daisy? Why did we leave? 

Daisy whimpers, squeezing her eyes shut as if trying to block out the memory. 

DAISY  
Dead. All dead. I couldn’t- I couldn’t help. I tried. I tried. 

Daisy’s voice cracks on that last word, and she turns her face away from Lincoln. Fitz and Jemma both have tears in their eyes, Fitz gripping Jemma’s arm. Hunter stands behind Bobbi, who still hasn’t left Daisy’s side. May and Mack and Coulson all watch solemnly, sadly, taking in the reality of what Daisy’s just said. 

COULSON  
It’s what she’s most afraid of. Losing her family and being powerless to stop it. That’s what she meant when she kept talking about death. She saw all of us die. 

Bobbi presses her hand to her mouth, visibly fighting back tears. The weight of the revelation sinks in- the weight of what Daisy’s been through. 

DAISY  
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I tried. 

LINCOLN  
Hey, hey, it’s okay. Daisy, wherever you are, you’re not alone. We’re here. We’re all here with you. Picture me, in your mind. Can you do that?

DAISY (distressed)  
I can’t. I can’t do it, I- 

LINCOLN  
Daisy. Okay, I want you to remember something. You were in afterlife. It was so bright out, sunny but not too hot. Just perfect. And do you remember what you did while you were there? 

DAISY  
No, I can’t- I don’t- 

LINCOLN  
It’s alright. You moved a mountain that day, Daisy. And you know what that means, right? You can do anything. Anything. 

Daisy nods, cautiously, and her fingers tighten around Lincoln’s. 

LINCOLN  
What you saw wasn’t real. Everything that happened in that grey room, it was all just a dream. Me talking to you now, all of us here? We’re real. We’re all real and here and very, very much alive, I promise. You just have to let us in. Can you do that? 

[[INT- DAISY’S MIND]]

A moment of interlude. 

Daisy turns, slowly. 

Lincoln stands behind her. He’s smiling, proud. 

LINCOLN  
You did it. 

Daisy smiles, relief flooding her from head to toe. 

 

[[INT- SHIELD INFIRMARY]] 

Bobbi rests her hand on Daisy’s shoulder. Daisy’s smiling now, still staring at something only she can see, and everyone in the room is glancing at one another, unsure what to make of the situation. Unsure whether to hope just yet. 

BOBBI  
Hey, Daisy, it’s Bobbi. You’re safe. We’re all safe. 

There are still tears in Bobbi’s eyes but now she’s smiling, realizing how close she came to losing someone she’s come to love like a sister, unimaginably relieved that things now seem, against steep odds, to be looking up. 

[[INT- DAISY’S MIND]] 

Daisy looks to Lincoln, still smiling, still anchoring her to the real world. 

Lincoln gestures for Daisy to look behind her. 

Daisy turns. 

Now Bobbi stands there, beaming, brightening the entire room. 

And as Daisy looks around, one by one, she sees the rest of her family, all full of hope and relief and love. 

May. 

Coulson.

Mack. 

Fitz. 

Jemma.

Hunter. 

All around her, her family stands, strong and tall and alive. Daisy covers her mouth with her hands, her eyes shining, hardly daring to believe it. Hardly daring to believe she’s seeing life instead of death.

Lincoln steps forward.

LINCOLN  
Daisy, remember what I said about the mountain? All this-

He gestures at the grey room, the walls, the endless ceiling. 

LINCOLN (cont’d)  
\- isn’t real. It’s just an illusion. Which means you can break it apart. Just like that. 

 

Daisy blinks, confused. 

DAISY  
Break it? How? 

Lincoln doesn’t respond, knowing she already knows the answer. Daisy, realizing what she needs to do, looks down into the palms of her hands. 

DAISY (cont’d)  
Lincoln, I don’t think I can. I tried. 

FITZ  
Of course you can. Your powers, they’re a part of you. Aria might’ve made you forget that, but she can’t take it away. 

MACK  
Come on, Tremors. Show ‘em what you’re made of. 

Daisy looks at her hands again, worried, remembering the cracks splitting the floor and the chasms swallowing all of them up, over and over again. She hesitates. 

DAISY  
And you’ll all be- 

BOBBI  
We’ll be fine. 

HUNTER  
Yeah, don’t you worry. We’ll all be here when you wake up. 

Jemma, Coulson and May all stand silent, Jemma smiling a goofy smile that warms Daisy’s heart all by itself. May is proud, unbelievably proud. And Coulson just gives Daisy a small nod, an unspoken ‘I believe in you’. Daisy understands perfectly. 

Lincoln takes a step back, giving Daisy space as she steels herself. She glances up at him and gives him a goofy sideways grin. 

DAISY  
Sky’s the limit, right? 

She holds out her hands, palms facing the floor, takes a deep breath. 

And something lifts. 

With a tremendous rumble, a massive shockwave breaks through the floor, sending fragments in all directions, the walls, the ceiling, all of it tumbling down, tumbling away.

Tumbling away. 

Gone. 

[[cut to black]] 

[[INT- SHIELD INFIRMARY]] 

Daisy’s eyes fly open and she gasps, sitting bolt upright in her hospital bed. 

She drops her head into her hands, gasping for breath, as the tension in the room collapses into nothing. 

Fitz and Jemma lean on one another, shutting their eyes, neither of them able to stop smiling. 

Bobbi laughs with relief, bright, loud. 

Hunter jumps up into the air and claps Mack on the back. 

Coulson stands silently beaming as May lets out the breath she’s been holding for who knows how long, resting a hand on Coulson’s shoulder as she does. 

Lincoln, drained and relieved and happy, leans a rumpled head against Jemma standing behind him. 

Daisy sits up, surveying the room, taking in all of their overwhelming relief and exhaustion. 

DAISY  
What the hell happened? How did you guys manage to- 

May moves to sit on the foot of Daisy’s bed. 

MAY  
It’s alright, we can worry about that later. Daisy, how do you feel? 

DAISY  
I’m… exhausted. I feel like I just pulled a week-long all-nighter. 

MAY (cautiously)  
Do you remember any of what you saw? In your head? 

Daisy averts her gaze, biting her lip. 

DAISY  
A bit, yeah. It was… it was awful. I don’t even know how to- 

JEMMA  
No need to worry about that, Daisy. We can’t be sure, of course, but I suspect the memories will fade eventually, just as normal memories of dreams do. And for the moment, things look good. Heart rate is normal, pupils are normal- things are more or less looking just fine. We’ll keep monitoring you, of course, but this is a very good sign. 

Daisy nods, grateful. 

DAISY  
Yeah, okay. Okay, that's good. And for now, distract me, would you? How did you guys manage to do- whatever the hell you just did? 

LINCOLN  
Jemma was brilliant. She tweaked the byproduct of the neuroblocker, made it usable as a neurostimulant. She- 

Jemma, blushing, shakes her head in modesty. 

JEMMA (rapidly)  
Fitz and Lincoln were brilliant too, Daisy, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. And everyone else here, we all worked to piece it together. The serum was deteriorating too quickly and so we had to modify it over and over again, isolating the components that were causing it to break down, and we had no real idea of what Aria’s powers were until we got the medical files of the other 6 Washington patients and started to fit it together. Hunter and Coulson and Mack and May, they worked out Aria was targeting fears- and Bobbi didn’t leave your side once, Daisy. It was spectacular, really. It should have been impossible, especially so quickly, and we had no idea what we were dealing with, honestly, it was just one of those situations where people solve the problem by sheer force of will- 

Daisy smiles in fondness at Jemma’s rambling, realizing how hard everyone worked to bring her back, realizing the reason they all look so drained and relieved is because the odds had been impossibly stacked against her. 

DAISY  
Jemma, hey. Thank you. 

She looks around the room, at her family. 

DAISY (cont’d)  
Thank you, all of you. I’m not gonna pretend I understand half of what Simmons just said but it makes enough sense for me to know that you’re all somehow the reason I’m here right now. 

COULSON  
We weren’t gonna give up on you, Daisy. There was no way. 

The mood is unimaginably different from just ten minutes before, now so full of love and relief, drowning out the tension and the fear and uncertainty. This is what family, in it’s purest form, feels like. 

COULSON (cont’d)  
I should get on the phone with Washington Hospital. They should know we’ve got a lead on how to break people out of what Aria does to them. 

Daisy’s eyes widen in realization, remembering their mission. 

DAISY  
Aria- she escaped. I don’t know how, she moved so much faster than she should have been able to, but- 

COULSON  
Hey, it’s okay. Don’t worry about Aria right now. That’s another problem for another time. You need to rest. 

LINCOLN  
He’s right. Doctor’s orders. 

Daisy smiles up at Lincoln, exhausted yet loving. She takes his hand. 

DAISY  
Hey, stay with me for a while, would you? 

LINCOLN  
Always. 

The others, lack of sleep catching up with them, begin to cycle out of the room. Bobbi stands up and looks down at Daisy, a shadow of guilt darkening her expression. She squeezes Daisy’s shoulder. 

BOBBI  
Daisy, I’m sorry. Down there, in that cell, with Aria- I should have been faster.

Daisy shakes her head, covering Bobbi’s hand with her own. 

DAISY  
No, hey, don’t apologize. There’s no need for that. Thank you. For watching out for me. 

Bobbi just smiles a melancholy, exhausted yet genuine smile. 

BOBBI  
Get some rest, okay? 

Bobbi bends down and kisses the top of Daisy’s head, the way a real big sister would. She tucks an edge of the blanket up over Daisy’s arm and slips out the door Hunter holds open for her. They disappear into the outside hallway.

Fitz and Jemma look over their shoulders at the doorway to the lab, momentarily synchronized in movement. 

JEMMA  
We’ll be back to check on you soon. Sweet dreams. For real this time. 

FITZ  
Welcome home, Daisy. 

As they leave the room, Daisy scoots over in the hospital bed, pushing back the blanket. Lincoln leans back against the pillow next to her, resting his head against hers. It’s a little crammed, sure, but neither of them seem to mind. 

The only sound in the room is the clock on the wall, ticking its steady plastic-y tick. 

LINCOLN  
Daisy? 

Daisy doesn’t answer. She’s fast asleep. 

LINCOLN (even though he knows she won’t hear it)  
I love you. 

Lincoln shuts his eyes, his hand wrapped around Daisy’s, finally giving in to his exhaustion. 

[[cut to SHIELD logo]] 

[[INT- HYDRA BASE OPERATIONS]] 

HIVE paces back and forth, ponderous, Malik standing behind him looking grim and preoccupied. 

HIVE  
I must say, I underestimated Aria Danvers. I knew she’d take out her target, but I didn’t truly expect her to escape alive. She’s resourceful. I like that. 

MALIK  
Perhaps her powers will give us an edge. A secret weapon, so to speak. 

HIVE tilts his head, considering, calm. 

HIVE  
I’ve always liked the way you think, Malik. And in most cases I’d be more than swayed by your argument. But in this case I think not. Unfortunately, Miss Danvers is a liability. However powerful she may be, I cannot control her. She is what one might call a wild card. And at this crucial stage in the development of our cause, I believe the wisest option is to terminate her. A shame, really. But we all must make sacrifices for what we believe in. 

MALIK  
Very well. In that case, shall I summon her? 

HIVE  
Yes, please do. Tell her that her time has finally come to serve the greater good. 

Malik nods, obedient, and exits the room. HIVE turns to the sinister HYDRA logo on the wall, gleaming red and black. Proud and humble, a god and a sycophant, he lifts his chest to the sacred symbol, at once a challenge and a salute to the future he represents. 

[[cut to black]]


End file.
